Instructors/Lessons
The Seattle Swing Dance Club would like to take a moment here and thank the instructors who have helped our members with their dancing. The following are the biographies of the instructors who have taught classes at SSDC pre-dance workshops last year and who we anticipate will be teaching this year. The instructors were invited to submit a bio and contact information. The biographies hat have been received are posted in alphabetical order.
Michelle Badion has been teaching partner dancing, full time in the Seattle area since 1989. She loves to dance, perform and most of all to teach. She has a way of making dancing accessible and fun for everyone. Michelle specializes in Argentine Tango, Salsa and West Coast Swing, but also loves to teach Waltz, Country, East Coast Swing, Cha Cha and Bachata.Her web site is www.michellebadion.com/index.htm.
Lilli Ann Carey is a recognized face and instructor on the Seattle dance scene. She’ll dance almost anything, but focuses her teaching on Waltz, Swing variations, Zydeco, Polka, Foxtrot, NC 2-step, One-step/Blues and a few vintage dance forms. Lilli Ann promotes dance in classes, workshops and events through her company, Dance For Joy! (www.danceforjoy.biz, ) including the now annual Evening in Vienna Viennese Grand Ball. You will find her teaching several nights a week in multiple locations throughout the city. Her inclusiveness and personal attention locally, translates to a comfortable cross-section of dancers in her classes. Lilli Ann has also taught workshops in the DC area and Atlanta and is a frequent instructor in Portland for Portland Dance Eclectic and for Friday Night Waltz in San Francisco.
Nancy Clark is a dynamic and creative Dancer and Instructor! She has been a well known figure on the WCS circuit over the past 15 years as a Champion Dancer, Chief Judge and Performer. She is a GSDTA Certified Instructor and Judge and member of the World Swing Dance Council.
Nancy teaches private lesson from 7-9 on Tues and Wed nights and also on Saturdays from 1 PM – 7 PM. You can contact her at nancy@dancepassion.com.
Charles England has been teaching dance since 1985, and has been an instructor and judge for the Seattle Swing Dance Club for more than 15 years. Charles also teaches ballroom, swing and salsa classes through the Edmonds Park Department and at the Bellevue Club. He can be reached directly at (206) 353-5187.
Gary Jobst & Csilla Madocsai
Gary’s passion for dancing began in the Country Western arena in 1989. He competed in the couples division as well as on the 3-time World UCWDC Champion Midnight Cowboys Dance Team. Finally caught by the Swing dance fever, Garypushed onward. Currently he holds 2 US Open titles (Showcase 1997, Strictly Swing 2000) and has placed and won numerous Champions level competitions over the past 8 years. In addition to teaching, competing, judging, emcee-ing and DJ’ing, he continues to pursue other avenues offered by the dance world. He has been the Chief Judge at many events the past 5 years in California, Arizona, Nevada as well as the Northwest.
Csilla started artistic gymnastic when she was 3 years old in Budapest, Hungary. In her teenage years she got involved in athletics, but it was always the dancing that put a smile on her face. She came to the US in 1989, and started out as a Country Western dancer in 1994. In 1999 she couldn’t resist the urge any more and ‘swung’ over (to West Coast Swing). In 2001, she moved to Orange County to train and improve her dancing. Since 2003 she’s been competing as an All-Star dancer, and recently she’s earned her way to the Champions circuit.
Ari Levitt has performed and taught social dances since 1990, first touring with Stanford’s Dunai Dance Ensemble, at which time he also helped to start Stanford’s first ballroom/swing dance club, and served as lead choreographer and dance instructor for the Stanford Viennese Ball. Ari was next involved in the creation of the Lindy Hop movement in Seattle, and actively taught and performed as a member of Seattle’s first Savoy Swing Performance Troupe. In 1992 he introduced the first Night Club Two-Step classes to Seattle as a guest instructor with Living Traditions. During this time he also taught workshops in swing, salsa, ballroom and Latin dance around the USA and Canada. Ari also founded the Central Pennsylvania Swing Society; founded, choreographed, directed and performed with the Jumpcats swing ensemble; was commissioned to choreograph and perform various swing and salsa numbers for the One Broadway concert series two years running; and ran a swing week each Spring at Hershey Park, while continuing to travel throughout the US and Canada teaching swing, salsa, and social dance workshops. Ari most recently lived in the Bay Area and performed with the Swingcats Rhythm Review and Stanford Salseros.
Jim Minty has been teaching dance for 20 years, the last 12 in the Seattle area. He is a Champion level competitor, Judge, Chief Judge, Event Director and Instructor/Coach. Although he has a background in American Social Ballroom as well as Country and Western, his focus has been West Coast Swing, Night Club 2 and Hustle for the past 15 years. Jim is certified with GSDTA (Golden State Dance Teachers Association), and NDDCB (National Dance Dynamics Certification Board). He has been an active competitor and is one of the very few Champion level competitors in the Pacific Northwest. He has a long history of competitive accomplishments and currently still competes in Showcase with his partner Katie McCaslin. Jim along with his partner Katie, Lynn Gross and Nancy Heaverlo are also the main instructors for the Seattle Swing Dance clubs Foundation WCS Series of classes on Monday nights in Juanita.
Jim also supports the Northwest dance community by volunteering his time as the Seattle Easter Swing Event Director. SES is one of the top Swing Competition/Instructional weekends in the country (www.seattlewcswing.com)
Jim and Katie teach every Thursday at China Harbor in Seattle, every couple months they teach the Monday night classes at Juanita for SSDC and Jim teaches private lessons for individuals or groups out of his studio in Edmonds.
Contact Jim at jim@nwdanceconnection.com or 425-822-25825. You can find out more about Jim on his web site www.nwdanceconnection.com.
Mary Ann Nunez is one of the most sought-after instructors of West Coast Swing in the nation. Ms. Nunez is a two-time first place winner in the Showcase Division of the U.S. Open Swing Dance Championship; she has numerous first place wins in Jack & Jill competitions (including five first place wins at the GPSDC Convention). If you check her name in the World Swing Dance Council register you will notice that she has one of the highest number of accumulated points of anyone in the register. Her television appearances include Dance Fever, and In The Swing. She is an inductee into the California Swing Dance Hall of Fame and she is a three time winner of the Feather Award (for the most outstanding female dancer in the United States). She was also awarded the Walk Of Fame award at the 2007 US Open. For more information about Ms. Nunez you may visit her website at www.maryannnunez.com/.
Jay Offutt’s energetic teaching style in Swing, Hustle, Salsa and Latin makes it fun and easy to learn to dance. His studio, the Dance Experience is located in Shoreline. For more info call 206-356-8812 or visit www.jays-dance-experience.com or email jayoffutt@w-link.net
Lynn Offutt has been teaching dance for over 20 years, and is the sole proprietor of the Dance Workshop, located in Shoreline, Wa. Although she has been teaching West Coast Swing most of her adult life, she also carries both National and International certification in 17 other dances.
Lynn offers classes and private instruction at her studio, but is also available for “off campus” instruction. In addition to running the studio, Lynn is also the sole organizer of the two longest running dinner/dance Ballroom events in the Pacific Northwest. The NW Dance Extravaganza (April) and the Crystal Ball (September) are two of Seattle’s premiere dance events. To see a schedule of her classes you can visit her web site at www.dance-workshop.com. The studio phone number is (206)542-5550 and her e-mail address is lynnoffutt@hotmail.com
